My Best Friend's Sister
by sweetsouthernbell
Summary: Michael Vaughn has a problem...he's in love with his best friend's sister. But does she like him back? And what about what his friend has to say about all this?
1. Loving squid

**Title**: My Best Friend's Sister

**Summary**: Michael Vaughn has a problem...he's in love with his best friend's sister. But does she like him back? And what about what his friend has to say about all this?

**Ship**: Sydney and Vaughn...of course.

**A/N**: Okay, so this is AU. For many reasons. One: Vaughn, Sydney, Eric, and Francie are teens. Two: Sydney is Eric's little sister. Three: well...there is no number three. lol. So yeah.

I can imagine all the looks of confusion on your faces when you read that Sydney is Eric's little sister. So, I shall give some background into the issue. Jack and Irina divorced around a year after Sydney was born. About a year after that, Irina remarried to Eric's also divorced dad, Robert or Bob for short. Jack and Irina are on friendly terms. And Irina is nice Irina, not the evil Irina who killed Vaughn's daddy, but the Irina who makes cookies. Eric is about two years older than Sydney and even though they are just stepsiblings, they love(and annoy) each other like actual siblings. Got it?

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Vaughn or Alias or anything you recognize. But I do, however, own Michael Vartan. ::grins:: Ah, I love that picture.

**Rating**: PG...for now. Could be upped later.

* * *

"Vaughn, hello, are you trying to lose?"

"Huh?" Vaughn answered, still caught in whatever daze he was caught in.

"I take that as a 'yes'," Eric answered, shaking his head. "What are you staring at anyway?"

Vaughn tore his eyes away from the object of his affection and back towards his friend and the big screen TV in front of them. The video game controller lay forgotten in his hand and Eric was kicking his ass in their two player video game, a rare thing, usually Vaughn was the one to kick Eric's ass, "Um, nothing."

"Are my sister and her stupid friend annoying you? Cause they're annoying me." Eric said, getting off the couch and crossing across the room towards the glass double doors that led from the family room to the backyard and pool. He opened the door and yelled out, "Hey squid, stop being so annoying!"

"I'm not doing anything, and stop calling me squid!" Sydney yelled back, moving a little bit to settle into another position on the lawn chair.

"I'll call you squid if I want and you're bugging Vaughn!" Eric called out, turning slightly back to Vaughn and added, "Isn't that right, dude?" Vaughn nodded along, weakly, trying to see around Eric and get a glimpse of Sydney. Bugging wasn't the word he would use, it was more like driving him insane. _Oh God_, He thought, finally getting the glimpse of her.

Sydney sighed in frustration while Francie laughed. She glared at Francie for a second before sitting up and raising her sunglasses to the top of her head, "I am not bugging Vaughn, I'm bugging you and sorry but we're working on our tans.Isn't that right Francie?"

"Yep," Francie laughed.

"See!" Sydney yelled, triumphantly.

"Yeah, I don't see." Eric answered, causing another giggle from Francie. "And squid, you're crazy. Working on your tan? It's like wearing a sign that says, 'Hey skin cancer, over here, I want to die ten years early!'"

"I said to stop calling me squid! It was cute in like the third grade, not so much any more. And we're wearing suntan lotion. Helps cut five out of those ten years off." Sydney yelled back.

Eric rolled his eyes, "Whatever squid, when you die _five_ years early, I'm going to laugh."

"And I'm going to haunt you if I do." Sydney replied. She tilted her head slightly, seeing Vaughn watching the whole conversation with a confused look on his face and smiled, "And hi Vaughn, how's it going?"

Vaughn gulped, "Fine. You?" He yelled.

"Great, except for my stupid brother," Sydney answered.

Eric rolled his eyes again, "Yeah, whatever, go work on your death." With that said he wisely chose to close the door and pull the curtains across the windows, ending the conversation that neither was going to win. But unfortunately completely blocking Vaughn's view of Sydney_. Damn you Eric_, Vaughn thought angrily. _Wait, what am I saying? I cannot be mad that Eric took away my view of Sydney. I cannot be attracted to Sydney. I mean she's like fifteen but then again I'm seventeen. Two years isn't that far apart, is it? Oh God, what is wrong with me?_

"Mike, dude, are we going to play or what?" Eric asked, impatiently, sitting down next to Vaughn on the couch again.

Vaughn nodded, and turned his gaze to the TV screen in front of him. "I'm gonna kick your ass this time."

Eric laughed, "Yeah right." He pressed a button on his controller and the game started over. They waited the few seconds until it restarted and commenced to beat the crap out of each other's video game character.

After three rounds, with Vaughn winning each of them, Eric resigned and offered to get them some food from the kitchen before they played a different game. Vaughn nodded, and leaned back into the couch, just as Sydney and Francie came back into the house with their towels flung over their shoulders and definitely not covering their bikini clad bodies. _Kill me, kill me now. Don't look at Sydney, look at your hands_. Vaughn swallowed hard and forced himself to look at his hands and not Sydney.

"Ah! Hey, what's with the bikini show?!" Eric yelled, coming back into the room, a couple sodas and a bag of chips in his hands. "Nobody wants to see that!"

Sydney glared at Eric, "Shut up, Eric, we're going upstairs right now." With that said, she and Francie flounced up the stairs.

Vaughn couldn't help himself and glanced over to Sydney walking up the stairs and had to put a hand to his head to calm his nerves. _Damn, that girl is driving me insane. I can't be attracted to Sydney. I've know her since she was in diapers. Besides she's Eric's sister. That's off limits territory. But she's so sweet and nice and funny and beautiful and smart and she has an amazing body, for a fifteen year old that is._

"Okay, so this time I'm going to kick your ass," Eric said, handing Vaughn a soda then going to put a different game in the PlayStation2.

Vaughn took the soda and laughed, "Dude, when are you going to realize that I'm always going to kick your ass at video games?" He cracked open the soda and took a sip. _Good, cold beverage, that's what I need._

"Never," Eric answered, sitting down again and cracking open his own soda.

Vaughn laughed, "Okay, I guess I'm just going to have to prove it to you." He picked up his abandoned controller and started the game.

"Dude, no wonder you win all the time, you cheat," Eric said, scrambling to pick up his controller before Vaughn beat him.

"Only sometimes," Vaughn said as his racing character did a jump, putting him even more in the lead.

"Oh, yeah, you're a cheater," Eric said, trying to catch up and failing miserably.

Vaughn ended up beating Eric six times before Eric gave up and demanded they try a different game. Vaughn just laughed glanced down at his watch. He mentally groaned at the time and clicked off his controller. "I gotta get home, late enough as it is. You know how my mom gets when I'm late." He stood up.

Eric nodded, "Yeah, that's not a pretty sight, almost as bad as Sydney and that friend of hers, wandering around in barely anything." Inwardly, Vaughn wanted to smack some sense into Eric. Couldn't he see that Sydney was an amazing girl? But before he did that, he realized that Eric would probably always think of the Sydney as his annoying little sister. He supposed that's how siblings were. He kind of lacked in that department, being an only child. "So, see ya tomorrow back at the hell hole we are forced to go to that they call school."

"Okay," Vaughn said over his shoulder as he disappeared out the front door. After he closed the door, he let out a long overdue sigh. He wasn't late and wouldn't be for another two hours. He just couldn't stand the thought of being in the same house as Sydney any more. _I need to see a shrink or something because I can't even sit in my best friend's house anymore without thinking about his little sister. Jeez, when did this little crush start anyway? Two weeks ago, I was just as annoyed with her as Eric and then...bam. Something hit me upside the head and was like, "Look at her, she is hot!" I wonder if I did hit my head. There would be a mark, right? So I if I did find a mark, that would mean I did hit my head and that I finally have something to blame this whole thing on._

"You just gotta calm down, Mike. Take a deep breath and calm down," He said to himself, out loud. He managed to get in three deep breaths before he heard high pitched laughter coming from Sydney's open window on the second floor. Instantly he felt a little flutter in his heart and he started to with that he could spend the rest of forever just listening to her laugh. Then came the realization that his little "crush" could be more serious than he thought.

"Oh, crap, I'm in love with my best friend's sister."

* * *

_Yay? Nay? Fantastic? Crap? Continue? Review please!_


	2. Realizations and future step parents

Okay, I am really ashamed right now. Not cause of the chapter (I think I did pretty good with it) but because it's been like five and a half months since I've last touched this story. Oh the shame of it. Well, now that I've worked out all the problems I was having with this, it will be added to my list of stories to update once a week. Again, I am so sorry that I've been ignoring this story.

Review responses are on my livejournal. Go to my author page and press the homepage button to access them.

Also, I decided to add Nadia to this story. She is just Sydney and Francie's best friend. She's _not_, I repeat **is not** Sydney's sister. Sorry if that annoys anyone, it just works better with the story to have her just be a friend.

* * *

"He doesn't like me!" Sydney yelled, yet still laughing and blushing immensely.

"I'm telling you, he does." France insisted, "He was staring at you all afternoon."

"No, he wasn't."

"Yes, he was."

"Wasn't."

"Was."

"Francie! He wasn't!" Sydney paused in painting her toenails to study the work she had done so far. She shrugged and went back to painting, "Besides, he's a senior."

"And you're a sophomore," Francie countered, "Two years isn't that big of a difference."

"To you, you'd date anything that looked at you twice." Sydney teased.

"I would not!" Francie admonished.

"Remember the guy at the blood bank." Sydney pointed out with a triumphant smile.

"What? I thought he fainted because of my smile." Francie defended, pouting a little. Sydney started to laugh. "What? I did!"

"It was a blood sugar thing, Fran. Everyone knows that."

"Not everyone," Francie replied.

Sydney shook her head, still smiling, "No kidding."

"Syd!" Francie yelled, threatening to throw a pillow at her best friend. "Not everyone has your parents."

Sydney's eyes narrowed, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Syd, your mom's a college English teacher, your dad's like the biggest thing over at the CIA, and your stepdad is a doctor. You practically won the smart gene lottery." Francie explained.

Sydney rolled her eyes, "Fran, I didn't get the smart gene from my stepdad."

"Well, you know what I mean."

"Actually I don't."

Francie frowned, and glared at her best friend. "Well, whatever." She shook her head, pushing the entire conversation out of her mind, "Two years still isn't that big of a difference."

Sydney shrugged, and capped the bottle of nail polish, being done with her toes. "I guess." She waved a hand over her toenails, speeding their drying time. "But Fran, he's Eric's friend."

"So?"

"Like _best_ friend."

"So?" Francie asked again, not completely grabbing Sydney's point.

"So, he's off limits." Sydney said, slowly, like she was talking to a small child.

"Wouldn't it be the other way around?" Francie asked, meaning that Sydney would be off limits to the guy who liked her because she was the little sister.

Sydney thought about it for a moment before shaking her head and rolling her eyes, "Whatever. It doesn't matter anyway because he doesn't like me!"

"Yes, he does!" Francie admonished, exasperated. Sydney was stubborn, too stubborn at times. "Did you _see_ his reaction?"

"To what?"

"Are you blind?"

"It would appear so." Sydney answered dryly.

Francie sighed heavily, "When we walked inside earlier, he could barely sit still."

"We probably made him uncomfortable." Sydney reasoned. They had kinda of been walking around in their bathing suits. Not every person was Francie and not every person could be comfortable around people like that. Maybe Vaughn was one of those people. She couldn't begrudge him that.

"Yeah, that's it." Francie answered her voice dripping with sarcasm. "He was uncomfortable because you were his walking wet dream!"

"Francie!" Sydney screeched sounding scandalized. Did her friend _have_ to be so…perverted? Seriously, did she?

"He likes you." Francie stated firmly ignoring Sydney's screech.

"No, he doesn't." Sydney answered loudly.

"Yes, he does!" Francie yelled.

"No, he doesn't!" Sydney yelled back.

Both girls carried the look of stubborn determination in their glares.

"Do you like him?" Francie asked out of the blue and breaking the silence at the same time.

Sydney's cheeks flamed and she looked down at her feet again. After a couple moments, she mumbled something.

Of course, Francie didn't catch it. "What?"

"_I said_," Sydney ground out through clenched teeth. God, was Francie deaf or something? Actually, the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. "Maybe."

Francie heard it this time around and squealed. Actually squealed. "Really! Oh my God, Syd! You two are perfect for each other!"

Inwardly, Sydney groaned. Just great. Now that Francie knew that she kinda sorta liked Vaughn, she was going to rub it in her face til the end of time. And what was all this crap about being perfect for each other? They were in high school. You don't meet your soul mate in high school. Course, she hadn't met Vaughn in high school but that wasn't the point.

"Who's perfect for each other?" Eric asked, leaning in the doorway, holding the cordless phone idly in his hand.

Sydney managed to turn an even darker shade of red. "No one," She answered before Francie could get a word out. To Francie, she added in a lower tone so her stepbrother wouldn't hear, "I said maybe, that's not a yes."

"It might as well be," Francie replied.

Eric rolled his eyes. "You have weird friends, squid." He commented.

Sydney glared at him. "Did you have a reason for coming up here?" She asked curtly.

"Yeah," He answered off handedly. "Your friend's on the phone." He handed her the cordless phone before leaving the room of course leaving the door wide open. Well, Sydney could ignore that for now even if she had told him over and over not to leave her bedroom door open.

A little confused, Sydney raised the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey Syd!" came the reply from an overly happy voice.

Sydney grinned. "Hey Nads." She greeted back. Maybe the girls' other best friend would support her a little. "Fran, Nads is on the phone." She informed Francie.

"Speakerphone!" Francie urged.

Sydney rolled her eyes but put the phone on speakerphone so both girls could hear Nadia and vice versa.

"Hey Fran." Nadia greeted.

"Hey Nads." Francie answered before asking what she really wanted to talk about. "Do you think that Syd likes Vaughn?"

"Francie!" Sydney screeched, throwing a pillow at her best friend.

Francie ducked the pillow easily. "I'm talking to Nads, not you."

"Of course she does," Nadia replied laughing as well causing Francie to break out into a fit of giggles.

"Nads!" Sydney cried feeling very outnumbered. Now they were conspiring against her. Just great.

"What?" Nadia asked her tone innocent but Sydney knew better. Nadia could act innocent and trap you in her lies and by the time you realized that you were screwed it was too late to do anything about it.

"I said maybe! That's not admitting to liking him!" Sydney cried frustrated.

"Yes it is," Both Nadia and Francie replied at the same time.

Sydney groaned and buried her face in her hands. "You two are impossible."

"Why thank you," Francie answered cheekily.

"Gee, Syd, that was nice." Nads commented obviously joking.

"Well," Sydney started but stopped stupidly. She couldn't finish that sentence. That much she knew. Damn, they had her stuck. Well, this sucked.

"Here's a question," Nadia added pushing aside Sydney's dumb moment. "Why is it such a big deal if you like Vaughn or not?"

Sydney sighed. "I don't know…"

"You know, the more you deny it, the more you're trying to deny it to yourself." Francie commented.

Sydney sighed again. "Can we talk about something else? Please?" She asked, throwing a look towards Francie.

For once, Francie accepted that she wasn't going to win and bothering her friend more would only prove to piss her off. "Oh!" She said, changing the subject just like Sydney requested. "I went shopping yesterday and I found the greatest vintage store ever."

That distracted Nadia easily enough. The girl loved all things vintage. Had for years now. "You have to take me." She commanded causing both Francie and Sydney to laugh. "Like today."

"I can't today," Francie argued.

"Why not?" Nadia whined.

"Because for one, my mom took away mypermit and for another, I'm supposed to go straight home after Syd's today." Francie explained.

"Why's that?" Nadia pushed. No one could insult her determination. The girl was chalk full of it.

Sydney left them to their conversation about why Francie was in so much trouble with her mom –because she'd missed curfew three days in a row- and turned her thoughts back to what the trio had been fighting about.

Did she like Vaughn? God, that was such a hard question. Why? Because she was the geek, the nerd, the unpopular one in school. She liked to study and read and focus on her school work, making time only for her friends and her family and her biweekly defense class. She wasn't the one to get involved with guys, something her mother had said was a good thing. Guys weren't worth it in high school.

But maybe Vaughn was. She'd known him since forever. Okay, forever was a bad term but she'd known him since her mom had married Eric's dad. Basically since she'd been two. Almost fourteen years was a very long time.

It didn't help that, even at seventeen, Vaughn was a living version of a Greek god. Every girl in their school seemed to lust over him and he didn't even notice. That's what she liked about him. He didn't even notice that a vast majority of the female population at their school –even the ones with boyfriends- worshipped the ground he walked on. It wasn't that he did anything special to merit such attention. He played hockey but not for the school team. He got good grades but wasn't a genius like Sydney. He was just good looking.

_Very good looking_, Sydney thought dreamily. _And funny, and smart –no matter what he said, kind, loyal, compassionate, determined, great with kids…oh my God._ Without making the conscious decision to do so, she straightened suddenly, a shocked expression on her face causing Francie to ask what the matter was. She didn't even hear her friend, she was too wrapped up in her own realization.

_I'm practically in love with my brother's best friend._

_-_

"Maman! I'm home!" Vaughn called, closing the door behind him warily. Walking home had only provided him time to think about Sydney and then chastise himself for doing so. He was starting to regret not taking the bus. Or better yet, not driving to Eric's house in the first place, that would have been so much easier.

When his mother didn't return any form of a greeting, he frowned while tossing his keys on the foyer table. "Maman?" He tried again. It wasn't like his mother not to be home at six on a Wednesday.

But she wasn't there. After searching the entire house except for the kitchen and finding nothing, he wandered into the kitchen intent on grabbing a soda and being on his merry way -yeah, right-to homework. It was in the kitchen that he found the answer to his mother's disappearance: a hastily scribbled note on the fridge. Sighing, he grabbed the note and skimmed it.

_Michael,  
__Trish called again and insisted that she saw a ghost in her bedroom. Went to go calm down her insane hysterics. Don't wait up for me. Money for dinner's on the table._

_Love,  
__Maman_

_p.s. If Jonathon calls, tell him I'll call him back and then call me immediately! _

Rolling his eyes, Vaughn crumpled the note and tossed it onto the counter. His aunt going crazy about seeing another ghost in her house was nothing new –that happened all the time- it was the fact that she had asked him to call her if Jonathon called.

He had nothing against Jonathon as a human being. If the man wasn't dating his mother, he wouldn't have any problem with him. He probably would even like him. But the man was dating his mother and Vaughn didn't like that. He didn't see the need for his mother to date. Of course, his father had been dead for years and it was normal for a woman to move on after such a long time but could she at least wait until he was out of the house to start dating again? He had less than a school year before he would be gone. Was it so much to ask her to wait that little amount of time?

Yeah, don't answer that.

Vaughn reached for the phone and dialed the pizza place –something he seemed to be doing a lot since Jonathon came into his mother's life- ordering a medium meat lover's pizza. He didn't even have to give the guy at the pizza place his address, that's how familiar with the fast food institution he was.

Cracking open his can, he leaned against the counter and let his mind wander again. Almost instantly, it went to the subject of Sydney. God, what was he going to do? He liked her a lot. Maybe not love but he was sure that if they ever dated, it wouldn't take much for him to completely fall for her. But she was his best friend's sister! Okay, stepsister but they'd grown up together. They were siblings.

_Okay, I have two options. I can either: ask Sydney out, date her despite her being Eric's sister, and if I get my way, live happily ever after with her. Or I can not ask her out, spend a whole lot of time beating myself up for not asking her out, and settle for having to just be her friend for the rest of my life. _

Option number one seemed so much more appealing –for good reason- but he couldn't stop that little voice in the back of his head nagging about how you don't date your best friend's sister. That was almost as bad as dating your best friend's ex.

_Or option number three: I ask Sydney out and then we don't tell Eric about our relationship until after we're married and expecting our first child. By then, it'll be too late for him to do anything about it. _

Another groan escaped his lips. Married? First child? God, he hadn't even had one date with her and he was already thinking about marriage and children. What the hell was wrong with him?

Although, the asking her out and then not telling Eric option did sound very very appealing. Of course, there'd always be that fear of being caught but that would add more intrigue to the relationship. Not that he felt that if he dated Sydney that their relationship would need more intrigue to it. It's just that…oh nevermind.

The sound of the doorbell interrupted his thoughts and glad for any excuse to put his dilemma aside for a couple more minutes, Vaughn pushed off the counter and went to answer the door. It was the pizza guy.

"Hey Jesus," Vaughn said, taking the pizza and handing the pizza guy the money. He wasn't entirely sure what Jesus's real name was, but everyone just called him Jesus cause he had the long brown hair and the flowing beard that the real Jesus had. It was a long withstanding joke and Vaughn wasn'tabout to question it.

"Yo Mike." Jesus answered, taking the money. "Pizza again, eh?"

"Yeah, Maman's making sure that my Aunt Trish doesn't hurt herself." Vaughn replied.

Jesus chuckled. "Seeing ghosts again, is she?"

Vaughn nodded, laughing as well. "She's insane. It's expected."

Trish was the family nutcase. That was for sure. She believed in crystal balls and séances, the whole works. Her antics had bothering Vaughn's mother for years. She was a no-nonsense, logical sort of woman and having a crazy loon for a sister-in-law had always irked her the wrong way. While Vaughn wasn't as extremely logical as his mother, he still thought his aunt was nuts.

"I thought Maman would have been out with her Johnnie." Jesus said.

Vaughn rolled his eyes for two reasons. The fact that Jesus was so comfortable with calling his mother 'Maman' and her boyfriend 'Johnnie' –Vaughn didn't call him 'Johnnie' even as a joke- and becausehe had sort ofbeen expecting the same thing.

"Don't even go there," He warned.

"Alright, whatever." Jesus shrugged. "Well, I got pizza to deliver. See you later in the week?"

"Most likely," Vaughn answered.

"Later Mike." Jesus said, walking back to his truck.

"See ya," Vaughn replied, going back into the house with his pizza balancing on one arm while he closed the door with his other. He set the box down on the table and immediately grabbed a slice, finishing it in less than two minutes. Could you blame him? He was hungry. Just as he was about to grab another, the phone started to ring.

"Hello?" He asked, a little put out by the timing of the phone call.

"Is Amelie there?"

Vaughn had to bit his lip to keep from growling. He should have known Jonathon would call. "No, actually, she's not." He answered shortly.

"Oh," Jonathon responded and again, Vaughn had to bite his lip to keep from making any noise (this time a snort). "Will you tell her I called?"

"Sure," Vaughn answered, still being curt with the man.

He could almost hear the frustration coming from Jonathon. "Alright, thanks."

"Whatever." Vaughn responded, hanging up with the phone immediately afterwards. _Well_, he thought, _I could have been nicer. But then again, that would undermine my plans to get rid of him._

'I bet Sydney wouldn't have approved of what you just did.' A second voice answered in his head.

This time Vaughn growled. _Don't you think I know that?_

'You don't act like it,' The voice answered.

_Shut up already, would you. I don't need grief from you too._

After that, his second voice left him alone. Alone to contemplate what the hell he was going to do about Sydney. Besides elope with her just so he wouldn't have to tell his best friend that he really liked his friend's younger sister.

A couple minutes later, he realized that he had to call his mother and tell her that Jonathon called. Sighing heavily, he grabbed the phone and dialed Trish's number.

"I told you, stop using the phone. I don't like E.V.P.s." His aunt said immediately after picking up the phone.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not dead, don't you think?" Vaughn answered dryly.

"All spirits think they aren't dead for a short period of time," Trish consoled obviously not recognizing her nephew's voice. "But I'm sorry to tell you that you are in fact dead."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not dead, Aunt Trish. It's Michael."

"Michael? Oh God, Amelie! Come quick! Your son's calling from beyond the grave!" Trish responded still not getting it. How naïve could this woman be? Not every phone call was from a dead person. In fact, a majority of them were from the living.

"No, Trish. He's not." Amelie answered. Vaughn could tell by her tone –though muffled- that she was having a hard time staying patient with her sister-in-law. "Give me that phone." She commanded. After a couple static-like noises, his mother's voice came clear over the line. "Michel? What's the matter?" She asked, using the French form of his name.

"Jonathon called," Vaughn replied flatly.

"He did?" Amelie asked sounding almost giddy. "How long ago?"

Vaughn cringed a little at her accusatory tone. "Five minutes ago, if that." Something told him that his mother knew that he disliked Jonathon and wouldn't trust him as far as she could throw him when it came to her boyfriend.

"Did you order dinner?" She questioned.

"Yep."

"Are you eating it?"

"Yep."

"Doing your homework?"

"Just getting to it."

"Good, I should be home by eleven. I expect to see you in bed by then."

"Yes, Maman." He answered dutifully. He was seventeen for Christ's sake. He could set his own bedtime.

"Good bye," She said, hanging up the phone before he could return the pleasantly, not that he really wanted to.

Sighing for the umpteenth time, he placed the phone back on the receiver. Grabbing another couple slices of pizza, and his soda, he bounded up the stairs to start on his homework and hopefully forget about his Sydney problem for a couple hours.

* * *

Next Chapter: Daydreaming during P.E.


	3. Daydreaming during PE

"Squid! Hurry up!" Eric whined from his post by the door. He waved his keys around and sighed impatiently for the umpteenth time that morning.

"I'm eating as fast as I can!" Sydney yelled back before stuffing another mouthful of cereal in her mouth.

"You're wasting all this time on food?" Eric admonished abandoning the door to walk into the kitchen and stare at Sydney who was leaning against the counter, a barely eaten bowl of cereal in her hands. "And you're not even close to being done."

"I just got down here," Sydney shot back giving him a glare.

"And whose fault is that?" Eric returned.

"People are allowed to oversleep once in a while," Sydney growled.

"People who don't have me as their driver to school do," He countered. "But you're stuck with me and my rules and my rules say that we have to leave ten minutes ago!"

She glared at him. "And do your rules cover getting food for me on the way to school?"

Yep, he had walked right into that trap. Great, now he had to waste more time by getting her drive-through breakfast. Ah heck, anything to get out of the house. "Alright, fine. Now get your crap and let's go."

A triumphant smile passed through her eyes as she set the bowl down and grabbed her backpack off the ground next to her feet. She knew he'd cave. He always did.

"Bye Mom! Bye Robert!" She yelled over her shoulder before Eric gave her a shove out the door. He didn't even bother with a farewell as he stalked out of the house, barely refraining from slamming the door. "What's eating you?" She asked, giving him an apprehensive look.

"Nothing except you being late," Eric replied near a hiss.

She didn't believe that for a second. Something was bothering her older stepbrother. It would only be a matter of time before she found out what it was. He wasn't that good at keeping secrets.

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe," She commented, buckling her seat belt.

"Do you want breakfast or not?" He snapped.

"Fine…" She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and turning to stare sulking out the window. He rolled his eyes at her and turned over the ignition. Soon enough they were speeding down the main strip of their quant suburb town of Los Angeles. Their parents have moved them out of the city soon after they married. Only Sydney's father still lived in the city and she didn't see him that often.

"Stop your pouting and eat you food," Eric said, practically throwing the sausage and egg McMuffin at her.

Sydney grinned and caught the food. "You're the best brother ever," She mocked, diving right into the food.

"You might want to take a napkin to your face," He advised, pulling back out into mainstream traffic from the McDonald's. "We're giving Vaughn a ride today."

She almost chocked on her food. Vaughn? _The_ Vaughn? Well, duh what other Vaughn did she know? But still, the day after she realizes that she has a crush on the guy, her stupid brother decides to give said guy a ride to school. Oh, she could kill him sometimes. Now sounded good.

"What? Is it burned or something?" Eric asked, giving her a weird look out of the corner of his eye.

Sydney swallowed the bite in her mouth as she shook her head no. "No… you just surprised me."

"Because I told you that we're giving Vaughn a ride?" He asked, the weird look growing.

"Wasn't it you that said you only carpooled me to school and no one else?" She pointed out.

"Vaughn isn't included in that," He answered nonchalantly.

"Just my friends?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, pretty much," He replied giving her a cocky smirk.

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're such a jerk sometimes."

"Only when you make us fifteen minutes late," He muttered.

"Five at the most!" Sydney screeched.

"Ten," Eric conceded finally.

She glared at him but nodded anyway. "I accept your surrender."

"Surrender!" He cried, almost losing control of the car because he was so shocked. "I did not surrender."

"You did too!" She countered.

"I compromised. That's not surrendering." He pointed out.

"Well, it is now," She retorted.

"Whatever, squid," Eric answered off handedly. She made a throaty growl and lunged to attack him just as he slammed on the brakes causing her to lose her balance. She just barely managed to keep from hitting her head on the dashboard. Glaring daggers at him, she lunged to attack him again when the rear door on her side opened.

"Don't kill him, Syd… we need a driver," Vaughn joked. See, he could do this. He could act like nothing was even a little bit weird between them though his entire train of thought was on how good she looked in that tank top.

"I can't promise anything," Sydney muttered slouching back in her own seat.

"You can if you want to get to school," Eric answered sticking his tongue out at her before turning in his seat to greet his friend. "Hey Mike."

"Hey Eric," Vaughn returned, forcing himself not to look at Sydney as he added, "Hey Syd."

"Hey Vaughn," Sydney mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the dashboard before her.

"She's in a mood, ignore her," Eric told his friend, definitely loud enough for his sister to hear. "Probably on her period or something," He added, pressing on the gas again.

Sydney's eyes widened and she shot a venomous glare towards her brother, barely managing to keep her protests to herself. No, she wasn't going to fight with her brother about something like _that_ in front of Vaughn.

Vaughn raised an eyebrow and looked between them a couple times. Right, so he hadn't heard them fight like this since they were like nine. Something was bothering them if they were fighting like this. Eric he had a guess about what it was, considering he was his best friend but he couldn't decide what was wrong with Sydney for the life of him.

Needless to say, the rest of the drive to their high school was pretty silent.

After throwing another glare towards her brother and not even looking at Vaughn, Sydney grabbed her backpack and stalked off to find her friends, making sure to slam the car door behind her.

"What'd you do to her?" Vaughn asked, tearing his gaze away from his crush to look at his friend.

"I didn't do anything," Eric answered. "She's in a mood."

"She's only ever in a mood because you put her in one," Vaughn pointed out.

Eric rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I have to go."

Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "Okay… where?"

"None of your business," Eric snapped. "I'll see you at lunch."

"Alright," Vaughn answered shaking his head a little warily at his friend. He stood staring at the school for a couple seconds before he headed off for his first period class: team sports.

Of course, Sydney had to be in that class as well. Of course, so was her friend Nadia but he didn't really care about her at all. Scratch that, Nadia was a nice enough girl he just didn't care about anybody but Sydney. That sounds about right.

"God, I hate him!" Sydney ranted to Nadia.

Nadia sighed to herself and steeled her nerves for another of Sydney's infamous rants. "Who? Eric?" She asked.

"Yes!" Sydney replied venomously. "He just _had_ to go and say that in front of Vaughn!"

"But Vaughn doesn't know that you like him," Nadia pointed out. She always was the voice of reason. "And for that matter, neither does your brother."

Sydney threw her a glare. "That's not the point." She countered. "The point is he purposely does this crap to try and embarrass me."

"Purposely?" Nadia repeated. "I know he's jerk sometimes, but I doubt that he would purposely try to embarrass you in front of his friends."

Sydney didn't pause to think that maybe she was over exaggerating this. Not even a little bit. "It's my brother; of course he'd do something like that. He was in a mood this morning."

"Oh?" Nadia asked, sounding a little more intrigued. "About what?"

"Hell if I should know," Sydney answered.

Nadia nodded and shrugged slightly to show her indifference. "Maybe he's got a new girlfriend or something and they had a fight." She predicted.

Sydney frowned, thinking this new idea over. It wouldn't be unlike her brother to have a girlfriend but not tell his family about her. But no, she would have heard about it around school. Then again, maybe he and the mystery girl –if there even was one- haven't told anyone. Oh, she hated not knowing what was going on.

"I think the question is; who would want to date him in the first place?" Sydney said at last.

Nadia opened her mouth to reply when the coach's whistle blew, bringing the class's chatter to a stop.

"Alright!" Coach McCann yelled. "Today, we're starting a new sport! Floor hockey!"

Half the eyes of the class drifted away from Coach to Vaughn. Everyone knew that he played hockey and was pretty damn good at it, even if he didn't play for the school team. Vaughn lowered his eyes and shifted his weight unconsciously making Sydney smile to herself.

"Vaughn! Santos! You're team captains!" Coach went on to yell.

Sydney swore mentally. Of course she wanted to be on her best friend's team but then again… Vaughn. She _had_ to be on his team because if she wasn't then she'd lose and losing was not in her plans. And you know, that little crush of hers now.

"Call it," Coach said tossing a coin in the air to determine who got first pick.

"Heads," Nadia said.

"Tails," Vaughn said after her.

Everyone's eyes followed the coin in its ascent and then its descent. Now if that wasn't a bit strange, no one could really tell you what was. The coin hit the ground with a soft click and everyone leaned in to look at the coin. It was tails. That meant Vaughn got first pick.

"Umm…" Vaughn murmured, looking at the other students. "Sydney."

Sydney stole a glance towards Nadia who nodded her agreement to his decision. After flashing her friend a quick smile, she joined Vaughn on his side. He had to force himself not to look at her. Nadia picked next, then Vaughn, and then back to Nadia until everyone had been chosen for a team.

"Team captains meet in center field for the face-off," Coach commanded.

Vaughn and Nadia each grabbed a hockey stick –like everybody else- and met in the center of the gym for the face-off. Though she put up her best effort, he beat her easily and immediately passed the puck to Sydney.

Sydney had unofficially taken the forward position along with Vaughn and together they scored the first goal of the game within a minute. She flashed him a triumphant grin before taking off down the floor after the puck. He was dazed by her smile for the rest of the game.

Sydney and Vaughn's team ended up beating Nadia's 10-4. Nobody was really shocked by that. They had Sydney the golden sports girl who athletically good at everything and Vaughn the king of hockey. Of course they were going to win.

"Good game," Sydney congratulated to Vaughn as they put away the sticks. They had volunteered to help Coach out a little while everyone else changed out.

"Right back at ya," Vaughn answered.

She laughed and put another stick into the bin. "Thanks."

Vaughn smiled at her and nodded. His mind was screaming at him to just tell her how he felt and he was very willing to listen to the voice. "Umm… Syd?" He asked. Here's goes nothing.

She stopped and looked at him. "Hm?"

"Can I tell you something?"

Sydney felt her pulse start to race as she nodded as solemnly as she could. "Sure."

He couldn't think of how to describe exactly how he felt for her that fast. It would have taken him a least an hour to think of words that would do his feelings justice. So he took the next best option.

With lightning quick movements, he reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her closer to him. A slight gasp escaped her lips as she looked up at him, doe eyed. If he was going to do what she thought he was, then she had no problem. He paused only long enough to smile at her before he lowered his head and kissed her.

A low groan tore through his throat. God, did she have to taste so sweet? Well, he should've expected it. It was Sydney for the love of God. And oh by God did he love kissing her.

"Vaughn!" Someone yelled tearing his train of thought away from the girl he was kissing. "Hello! Vaughn! Are you okay?" The someone was starting to sound more like Sydney.

Wait… Sydney? He was kissing Sydney. Wasn't he? Suddenly he opened his eyes and blinked a couple times and Sydney wasn't there anymore. What the hell? Oh… shit, he'd dozed off in the middle of team sports and had a dream about Sydney. Damn.

"Are you okay?" Sydney repeated, looking rather worried.

Vaughn blinked again and nodded. From the looks of things, class hadn't started yet. "Yeah… must have dozed off there."

Sydney gave him a relieved smile. When she'd asked him if he knew if Eric had a new girlfriend and he didn't answer, he'd almost given her a heart attack. "Yeah… in the middle of team sports?"

"Late night," He explained. Yeah, it was a late night because he spent about three hours on homework that should've taken him an hour at the most because he couldn't stop thinking about her. And then, of course he couldn't get her off of his mind long enough to fall asleep for a solid two hours after he lay his head on his pillow.

She nodded understandably. Her night had been a little sleepless as well. "Did you hear my question?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

"Do you know if Eric has a new girlfriend?" Sydney asked. Behind her, Nadia smiled and rolled her eyes.

Vaughn shrugged. "None that I know of."

Sydney narrowed her eyes at this new piece of information. If Vaughn didn't know about any relationship concerning her brother, then there was probably none going on. Then what was his problem this morning? "Thanks." She told him, turning her attention to Coach as Coach blew the whistle to start class.

**-break-**

The next chance Vaughn had to see Sydney was their Photo class at the end of the day. Eric and the rest of their friends had demanded all of his attention and as he later found out, Sydney had gone with Francie and Nadia to a fast food restaurant during lunch.

Lucky for him they sat next to each other in Photo and neither had any other friends in that class with them. He had her all to himself. That is, after their teacher Ms. Forougi finished explaining their new assignment. They were to take pictures of people at leisure. Easy enough, especially when she asked that they do the project in pairs. Needless to say, Vaughn picked Sydney as his partner instantly.

"When do you want to get started?" Sydney asked, smiling at him.

Vaughn shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. "Friday sound good?"

"Yep," She agreed before frowning and shaking her head. "Wait… no, I can't on Friday."

"Why?" He asked. Somehow the 'can't' turned into not wanting to do the assignment with him in his mind and that well, sucked.

"My dad wants me to spend Friday night until Sunday morning at his house," She explained. Her dad had called her during lunch and said that he was going to pick her up at six on Friday. When she asked why, he said that she was spending the weekend at his house and he'd already cleared it with her mother. Way to include her in plans before they're made.

Oh, okay now he could blame Jack Bristow for his plan of being with Sydney on Friday night being ruined. Actually, no… he wasn't going to blame Jack Bristow. That man scared him senseless sometimes and he's only spoken about two and a half sentences to the man.

Vaughn nodded. "Sunday afternoon then?"

She smiled. "Sounds great," She answered. Oh God, what was she doing? Here she was, making plans with the guy who she couldn't stop thinking about all day long. God was Sunday going to be a long day. "Okay… does the mall or Pier sound better?"

He was a little distracted by the shine of her hair for her question to sink in right away. Of course, when it did so did the realization that he was making plans with the girl who he spent team sports daydreaming about. Shit was Sunday going to be the longest day ever. "Um… how about the mall?"

A sly smile crossed her face. "Not the pier?" She asked innocently.

He could barely refrain from glaring at her. She knew exactly why he didn't want to go to the Pier. She was there when Eric decided to throw him in and see if he melted for crying out loud! "No Pier," He stated firmly.

Sydney giggled. "Don't feel like swimming in the Pacific again?" She teased.

Vaughn shook his head. "Not if I can help it."

"One of these days… I'm going to get you to go back into that ocean," She told him.

Oh he had no doubt that if Sydney asked him to go swimming in the Pacific with her that he would go. No doubt what so ever. He'd beat his life on that little fact. "You willing to bet on that?" He asked as calmly as he could.

She smirked at him. "Only if you are."

He considered it and came to the very quick conclusion that he would lose that bet. Losing the bet wasn't something he really wanted to do, so he shook his head. "Nope, not really."

"We need to work on your gambling skills," She observed.

He chuckled. "Yeah… probably."

She smiled at him and rolled her eyes slightly. "Next weekend, after we get this photo thing out of the way."

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Vaughn asked.

Sydney smirked. "Oh I think you can bet it's a promise."

* * *

SSB's note: So, I read over that and realized that absolutely nothing happened! I'll do better with the next chapter, I promise.

Thanks to **timeisonyourside, Oreata, livingArtemis, soccerfreeek324, ArodLoverus2001, SuperDuck123, gils, s, BrSoccerChic, Cat, Ren201, vaughloveralwaysandforev, Nicholette, Emmy d, largemarge416, dolphingurl1, Natalie, chickieedee, **and**luvvaughn0 5** for reviewing.

Next chapter: Coffee with a side of cannon balls


	4. Coffee with a side of cannon balls

"Miss Bristow, put away the note," snapped Mr. King, the girls' American history teacher.

Sydney smiled sheepishly and tucked the note into in her binder. "Sorry, Mr. King."

Mr. King gave her a hard look before continuing with his lesson, "As I was saying, the Civil War…"

Sydney yawned behind her hand and picked her pen with the other. _You seem distracted Nads, something wrong? _She scribbled on another piece of paper. When the teacher was looking the other direction, Sydney slipped the note onto Nadia's desk to the right of her.

A few minutes later, the note was returned to her desk, only from Francie who sat behind her.

_Of course not_, Nadia wrote.

_You're lying_, Francie scribbled under that.

_Fran has a point, what are you hiding?_ Sydney wrote before she passed the note back to Nadia.

_It's nothing, just drop it_, Nadia put down.

_Oh, so it is something_? Francie asked.

Sydney suppressed a giggle. _You can tell us Nads. We're trustworthy_.

_LOL! Yeah, right. You two? _

_We take offense to that, don't we Syd? _

_Of course we do, Francie. Didn't we swear back in the third grade not to hide things from each other?_

_That was when our biggest problem was our pudding being stolen during lunch_, Nadia argued.

_And we told each other about it. _

_I bet it's some boy problem_, Sydney put in.

"Miss Santos!" Mr. King roared catching her with the note this time. "No passing notes during class. Kindly discard that note in the trash."

"Yes, Mr. King," Nadia replied dutifully getting up to throw the note away. When she sat back down, she pulled out another sheet of paper and scribbled something on it before tossing it to Francie. Half a minute later, the note was back in Sydney's hands.

_Maybe_, was all that Nadia had written.

_Maybe what? _

_I knew it had something to do with a boy_.

_Yes, congratulations_. Wow, even a note was sarcastic.

_Wait… we're talking about boys? Why didn't I know this?_ Francie asked

_Because Nads had to throw away the note_, Sydney explained.

_Syd wrote it_, Nadia added.

_Ooohh… so who's the boy?_

_What are you? Twelve? _Sydney teased.

_LOL! _

_Twelve and three quarters. You didn't answer my question, Santos._

_Lmao! You need to stop watching BBC. _

_I know, _Nadia answered.

_Oh shut up would you? You're not my mother. Answer the question Santos. Who's the boy? _

_Yeah, who's the boy?_ Sydney echoed.

_Now you both sound like twelve year olds. And what are you going to do to me if I don't? _

_Twelve and three quarters! Get it right! And we'll… help me out Syd. _

_We'll send a pack of rabid monkeys to your doorstep. _

_Oh sorry, twelve and three quarters. Where are you going to get a pack of rabid monkeys? _

_Africa. Duh!_

_LOL! Eric claims he knows someone. _

_You're going to get a pack of rabid monkeys from either: Africa or your stepbrother? Real threatening. _

_Eric claims a lot of stuff. Like that the moon was made out of cheese. _

_You didn't really believe him, did you?_ Sydney asked. They had been nine at the time sure but no one was that impressionable.

_Course not… right Fran? _

_Er… I was a very impressionable nine year old_. Francie admitted.

Sydney couldn't stop herself from giggling before it was too late.

"Something amusing about Gettysburg, Miss Bristow?" Mr. King sneered.

"The name?" Sydney answered putting her hand over the note.

Mr. King sent her another hard look and went back to his lesson. "At Gettysburg…"

_You dork. _Sydney wrote before passing the note to Nadia.

_Nice save Syd, the name! _

_Don't call me a dork! Ha! The name and the fact that it's in Amish country._

_Oh no it's not. _

_It's in Pennsylvania right? _Nadia asked.

_Yes, and that whole state is Amish_. Francie answered.

_Have you even been to Pennsylvania? _

_I think the farthest from L.A. she's been is Seattle. _

_Cancun, thank you very much and no, I haven't been to Pennsylvania. _

_Then how do you know that it's all Amish? _

_When did you go to Cancun?_ Nadia questioned.

_My cousin told me. She lives in New Jersey. And I went two summers ago. _

_But she doesn't live in Pennsylvania_. Sydney argued.

_Would you shut up about the Pennsylvania and Amish people? _

_Yes, let's shut up about it. _

_Not before I prove that I'm right. _

_Oh, here we go again._ Nadia commented.

_Sydney's on a mission. _

_What the hell is that supposed to mean? _

_You're very determined…_ Nadia started.

… _and stubborn and you always have to be right._ Francie finished.

_I don't always have to be right. _

_Yes, Syd you do. _

_Don't forget stubborn. _

Sydney ground her back teeth as she wrote a reply, _How about we stop talking about my faults and go back to what we were talking about before? Nads's boy problems. _

_How about we don't? _

_No, I like Syd's idea. Boy troubles! Spill!_

_Now! _Sydney added.

_You two are impossible. _

_We know. Remember, Syd's stubborn._

_And Francie's a gossip._

_Don't remind me. _

_I am not a gossip!_

_Yes you are. And you're stalling Nads. Spill or it's monkey time. _

_LOL! And –sigh- He's an upperclassmen. _

_And this is a crisis because…_

_I'm not seeing it either, _Sydney added.

_Ugh! I knew you two would be thick about this. He's an upperclassmen, kinda makes it hard to date him. _

_Nah, look at Syd and her Mikey. _

_I'm not dating him and don't call him Mikey. _Sydney defended.

_But you want to date him, _Nadia pointed out. _And I agree. Don't call him Mikey._

_Whatever –eyeroll- The point is, that Syd is in the same dilemma as you._

_At least I know my guy's name…_ Sydney wrote, hoping Nadia would drop the name of this mystery guy that she was caught up on.

_Nice try Syd. I know his name and I'm not telling the two of you. _

_Why not!_

_Good question, why not?_

_Because: A) gossip queen and B) I don't want to!_

_Would you stop calling me a gossip! _

_Suck it up Fran, you are. We really don't care if you don't want to tell us. _

_Some friends you are… _

_Yep, and we're the only ones you've got. _

_Hear, hear. _

_I've got other friends. _Nadia defended.

_Oh yeah?_ Francie wrote. _And how many of them know you used to have nightmares about a giant peanut? _

_Or that you spent the first five years of your life in Argentina?_ Sydney added.

_Alright fine, you two are my only real friends. But I'm still not telling you. _

_Party pooper. _

The bell rang before Sydney could write a response. No matter, they could talk now. "We will find out who he is." She warned Nadia.

"I'd like to see you try," Nadia replied, gloomily.

Francie hooked her arm around Sydney's neck and grinned. "The gossip queen and mini spy have yet to fail."

Sydney laughed, "Stop calling me the mini spy."

"Only if you stop calling me a gossip," Francie replied.

"But with you it's true. Syd, not so much," Nadia argued as the trio left the classroom.

"Oh Nadia, Nadia, Nadia… I have so much to teach you," Francie sighed mockingly letting go of Sydney and hooking arms with the other girl. "And we have all of English in which I can do so."

"Oh joy," Nadia muttered darkly.

Sydney rolled her eyes, "I'll see you guys after school at the Lighthouse okay?" The Lighthouse was a coffee house where she worked as a waitress to earn more money. It was her day off today but the girls liked to meet there to hang out.

"Sure thing Syd," Francie said over her shoulder as she and Nadia disappeared into the flood of students.

Sydney rolled her eyes again and set off towards the office. Her last class of the day was as an office aide. Basically, she sat there and answered the phone, sometimes she got to sort mail too. It might as well have been a study hall that was for credit.

As it turned out, she got to sort the mail today. Oh joy. She was halfway done with it when a familiar voice asked, "Do you think I could get some free popcorn?"

She smiled and turned towards him. "I thought you were supposed to be in weights class right now."

Vaughn flashed her a grin. "I am," He defended. "I'm just taking a break."

"A break that includes popcorn?"

"Exactly," He agreed glancing towards the popcorn machine in the teacher's lounge full of freshly popped popcorn. "It's healthy for you…"

"Uh huh," She replied dryly. "Judy! Is it alright if I give Vaughn some popcorn?" She yelled.

"Sure thing, dear!" Judy, the school secretary and technically the person Sydney worked for as an aide replied.

"Help yourself," Sydney shrugged.

"Thanks," Vaughn grinned at her again and went for the popcorn. "Sorting mail again are we?" He asked munching on a handful.

She nodded, tapping a letter against her hand as she searched for the correct box to put it in. "You wouldn't happen to know of a Mrs. Jones would you?"

Um… she was my Health teacher as a freshman. Last I heard was that she was getting skin cancer in Spain. Why?" He replied.

"Because I have a letter for her," She answered. "And we toss it."

"What if that is important?" He asked after she had already thrown the letter in the trash.

"It was from a chocolate company," She responded. "It couldn't have been that important."

"You always trash teacher's mail?"

"Only when it's not important," She admitted.

He laughed, sticking another handful in his mouth. "Make me one of your references if you ever decide to join the postal system okay?"

"And why would I want to do that?" Seriously, her be a postal worker? Not likely.

He shrugged. "Dunno, you got the sudden urge to help your country."

"Then I would join the armed forces," She said slipping a letter into a box. "Or join a different branch of the government."

"You wanna be a government worker, just not in the postal industry." He concluded.

She nodded. "I might go into the CIA, like my dad."

"And my dad," He reminded her. "I didn't realize that you looked up to your father that much."

"I don't," She admitted turning to look at him. "But I like the idea of espionage. What about you; you going into the CIA?"

"I was thinking about it," He confessed. "My mom says that's what my dad would have wanted."

She smiled. "At least you got along with your dad. Mine… he might as well be dead for all I know."

"I thought you were spending all weekend at his house," He pointed out.

"Only Friday night til Sunday morning, that's not all weekend."

"Most of the weekend," He corrected.

"I am," She sighed.

"Then how could he be dead?"

"You never know, maybe a lightning bolt took pity upon me and struck him down in his car or something," She muttered.

"Don't say that," He requested softly.

She stared at him confused for a second before it hit her. Here she was talking about how much she wanted her father to die when he'd already lost his father. God, how stupid was she? "Oh my God," She gasped. "I am so sorry!"

"Don't worry about it," He replied dismissively. "It was a long time ago."

Yeah, she remembered _those_ days. She had been six at the time when his father had died. One of her first memories was of when she, Eric, Nadia, Francie, and Vaughn all spent a week in the tree house in Francie's backyard. None of their mothers could get them to come home. Cheering up Vaughn was more important.

"I'm still sorry," She insisted. "I never should have said that."

"Listen, don't beat yourself up about it, okay?" He told her.

Sydney bit her lip and nodded. "I'm still sorry."

Vaughn laughed, "And you're forgiven. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to class before I'm seriously missed. See ya later Syd." And then he bounded out of the door leaving her to kick herself over her stupidity for the next hour until school ended.

**-break-**

"Dude, you wanna come over to go swimming?" Eric asked Vaughn as they were leaving the locker room.

"Sure," Vaughn answered immediately. Anything to delay going home for as long as he could. With his luck, Jonathon and his mom were going to be there and that was not something he wanted to be around.

"Avoiding Maman again?" For some reason, everyone had taken up calling Vaughn's mother 'Maman' like he did. It didn't bother him or his mom so he didn't comment on it.

"No," Vaughn replied a little too quickly. "Do you want me to come over or not?" He added when his friend gave him a skeptical look.

"Don't need to snap at me," Eric muttered.

Vaughn didn't even bother apologizing.

"You wanna get some coffee?" Eric asked after they had piled into the car.

"It's three in the afternoon," Vaughn replied dully.

"Congratulations, you can read time," Eric rolled his eyes. "You can get lemonade or something."

"Don't I feel special."

"Alright, what has crawled up your butt and made you into Scrooge today?" Eric joked.

"Nothing," Vaughn answered his voice sounding sullen. "I'm thinking. Something you wouldn't know about."

"Ouch," Eric mocked. "Nothing you feel like sharing with your best friend?"

"Nope."

"Fine whatever, be moody." Eric shrugged stopping the car in front of the Lighthouse. "See if I care."

"Okay then," Vaughn replied easily getting out of the car.

The sound of girls giggling followed by a loud "I don't like him _that_ much Fran!' greeted the two boys when they entered the coffee house. Sydney and her friends sat around one of the tables near the door, all red in the face from laughing.

"Squid, get us a coffee and a lemonade for Mikey over here," Eric ordered.

Sydney stopped laughing and glared at her brother. "It's my day off. Go ask Alice to get you your damn coffee."

"And lemonade," Vaughn added as Eric stalked off towards the counter. "He's too addicted to coffee."

"You used to be too," Francie pointed out.

"And you still are, actually…" Nadia added.

He gave them a look. "I don't need coffee at the three in the afternoon anymore."

"Anymore being the key word there?" Sydney teased.

"Squid!" Eric yelled making his way back over to the girls and Vaughn with his cell phone pressed to his ear. Sydney sighed and rolled her eyes. Would he ever stop calling her that name? "Mother dearest says you have to come home with me and Mike."

"Why?" Sydney challenged.

He shrugged and hung up the phone. "Dunno, she just said to bring you home." He replied handing one of the cups he was clutching to Vaughn.

"Probably have to do chores or something," She grumbled. "Sorry guys."

"It's _your_ mom," Francie replied. "I wouldn't want to cross her."

Sydney rolled her eyes as she stood up from the table, taking one last drink of her smoothie. "Bye guys."

"Bye!" Nadia and Francie chorused as the trio left the coffee house.

"And since Mike was here first, you get back seat," Eric told Sydney.

"Yeah, yeah," Sydney murmured, climbing into the backseat of the car.

Sydney had been right. Her mother did want her to come home early so she could do chores. While she went to work, cleaning the bathrooms, Vaughn and Eric changed into their swimming trunks and jumped into the pool. Eric contented himself with doing cannonballs, over and over and over and over… and over.

Vaughn was starting to get a little tired of being splashed constantly. "Mind cutting that out and staying in the pool for more than five seconds?" He growled.

Eric resurfaced after jumping in and raised an eyebrow at his friend. "I repeat my question from before, what crawled up your butt and made you into Scrooge?"

"It's nothing," Vaughn replied dismissively. Truth was, he was a little out of it because of his conversation with Sydney and her wishing that her father was dead. Even though he told her not to worry about it and she had apologized, it had affected him and put him in a cranky mood. People just didn't get what it was like to actually lose a parent.

"Hey!" Sydney yelled. When they ignored her, she picked up the beach ball lying at her feet and chucked it at they're heads. It ended up hitting Eric. "I said, hey!"

Eric growled when maimed by the beach ball and turned to her. "What?"

Sydney rolled her eyes, one hand on her hip, the other holding the cordless phone in her hand. "Maman's on the phone!"

"Thanks Syd!" Vaughn answered before Eric could get a word out. Sending his friend a look out of the corner of his eye, he paddled over to Sydney, jumping out of the pool pausing only to dry himself off a little. "Yeah?... okay… I will… bye." He hung up the phone and held it out to her. She took it, shrugging, before tossing it onto one of the lounge chairs.

"What'd Maman want?" Eric asked, coming over to them.

"I have to be home for dinner in an hour," Vaughn said.

"How pressing," Sydney muttered.

"Be quiet squid and go back to cleaning your toilet," Eric commanded.

Sydney glared at him. "Do you enjoy being a prick?"

"Only towards you," He responded off handedly.

She gave him another glare and turned to stalk off but Vaughn grabbed her arm. "Come swim with us." She hesitated. "Come on, take a break." What the hell was he doing? Why had he grabbed her arm? Oh hell.

"I'd rather not," She answered still peeved at her brother.

"Then I'll guess we'll have to make you," He replied. Before she could protest, he picked her up by the waist and tossed her into the pool.

"Vaughn!" She sputtered, resurfacing. Great, now she was wet and she still had chores to finish. The two boys roared with laughter. "You both suck!"

Still laughing, Vaughn approached the edge of the pool. "I warned you."

Glaring at him, she reached out and grabbed his ankle, giving it a rough yank. He lost his footing and fell face first into the pool. Eric starting roaring with laughter again as she smiled triumphantly. "Oops," She said innocently.

He gave her a glare of his own. She was too distracted by her apparent victory to defend herself against a large splash from him. There, that got her back.

"Vaughn!" She cried indignantly. Well, if he wanted to play like that, she could play like that. While he was busy laughing, she sent him a large retaliation splash.

Her retaliation started an all out splashing war. After a particularly damaging of her pride splash, she paused. Whether it was on purpose or not, but he hesitated as well and they just stared at each other, completely oblivious to anything and everything else.

Eric must have sensed a good time to get them both because he cannonballed into the pool again at that exact moment, drenching them both with water and effectively ruining the moment.

Damn Eric.

* * *

**SSB's note**: In my defense... something did happen in this chapter. Like... splash fights and, um... secret crushes. That'll come into play later.

Seriously, this time around, review responses are on my livejournal (click homepage on my author's profile). I've been slacking on those... bad Melanie.

Next Chapter: Occasion for a cold shower.


	5. Occasion for a cold shower

Huzzah. New chapter. I feel so productive. ;P

* * *

One thing Sydney hated about her father; he was always late.

Always, without fail. Every time it was his turn to take Sydney for the weekend (as stated as part of the divorce) he never showed up on time. Never. Not once. For example, he'd say that he'd be there, at her mother's house at six and this time he'd be on time.

He'd show up two hours later claiming that 'work' had held him up.

Figures that the one time Sydney was counting on her father to show up late like always, he showed up early.

"Sydney! Your father's here!"

She stopped dead in the middle of her sentence and looked up from the keyboard. Oh, this had better be one of the times that her stepfather was lying to her. With a frown, and an impatient sigh, she pushed back from the desk, getting out of the chair in one fluid moment.

"What?" She called back, sticking her head into the hallway.

"Your dad's here!" Eric was the one to tell her that this time. From what she could tell, he was in his room. "Are you deaf or something?"

"Oh shut up!" Sydney yelled back. "I wasn't talking to you."

"Oh sorry, miss ruler of the world," Eric replied sarcastically. "But all of this yelling is not helping with my concentration."

Sydney rolled her eyes at him before calling down the stairs. "What was that, Robert?" Maybe she (and Eric) were just imaging things. It could happen.

"For the love of God, Sydney. I'm here."

Well, that settled it. Her father really was at the house. Her frown deepening, she set off down the hall, and then down the stairs two at a time.

"Are you ready to go?" Jack asked, the moment she came into view.

Um, no, you're fricking early, she replied silently. "Not exactly," She replied trying to stay out of a fight. The last thing she needed was to get into a fight with her dad again. Though it was more of an inevitable event now-a-days.

"What does 'not exactly' mean?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at his only daughter.

Sydney sighed, running her hand through her hair idly. "For starters… you're early," She replied, gesturing towards the clock on the wall by the stairs (it currently read fifteen minutes until six) with the hand that had just been in her hair. "And I'm in the middle of writing my English essay."

"I can't be early?"

Oh you have got to be kidding her. "You're never early."

"I'm early today," Jack replied with a patronizing tone. "And you're not ready."

"No, I was expecting you to be late actually," She responded. "Like you always are."

Jack didn't have a response to that. Instead, his eyes flicked over to her stepfather for a moment before he said, "Now isn't the time to talk about this. Get your things. I'll wait down here."

"Yes, father." She muttered under her breath and not in the respectful way.

Why did he have to choose today of all days to show up early? Honestly. The one time she'd been counting on him to show up late so she could get her essay done and then not have to worry about it all weekend and he shows up early. Damnit, that meant she was going to have to take the laptop with her.

"Where are going with that?" Eric asked, poking his head out into the hallway.

Sydney stopped, rolling her eyes before turning back to face her stepbrother. "To my dad's."

"No you're not." He countered.

Oh you have got to be kidding her. Narrowing her eyes at him she replied, "I need to finish my essay. It's coming with." Who cared if it was technically his computer too? She needed it to finish her essay and she could bet that her father wouldn't let her use his laptop.

"No, it's not." He repeated. "What if I need it?"

"Then use your father's," She pointed out. "I'm sure he'll let you play pinball on that."

His gaze narrowed slightly. "I didn't mean for playing pinball."

"For what then?"

"I _was_ going to use it to talk to Vaughn." He replied. Oh that's not fair. You can't throw Vaughn at her. Not when she was just found out that she liked the guy. "He's not allowed to use the phone or go anyway today you know… and he's stuck with his mother and her boyfriend." Okay, really not cool. Try to make her feel guilty about that now.

Sydney knew that Maman was weird like that where'd she take away the phone and going places but leave the internet wide open. And she knew that Vaughn would be pretty lonely… "I'll talk to him then. There. Problem solved."

"What if I had something to talk about with him?" He pointed out.

Damn. Well… "Write a letter. I'm sure if you put an express stamp on it, it'll get there by Monday." She was being mean but she had good reasons here. First she had an essay to finish before Sunday afternoon because that's when she was meeting Vaughn… and now her father was early.

"That's not what I meant, squid."

"Calling me squid's not going to help any." She pointed out.

"Just leave the laptop. Use your father's." He commanded.

"No. I can't. He won't let me." She answered with a shrug. "Ask Mom. She has instant messenger on her computer." There problem solved again. She was good at this. She should solve problems for a living. What kind of job that was called was beyond her, but it sounded interesting.

"Your mom won't let me use her computer." He countered.

She loved how he still referred to her mother as 'your mom'. The woman had only been his legal mother for thirteen years. True, she did refer to her stepfather as 'your father' but she had two dads. It was hard to keep them straight sometimes. Eric on the other hand, only had one mother. Not that hard.

"Have you ever asked her?" She asked.

"No…" He admitted.

"Then how would you know?" She pointed out. "Mom's pretty flexible. Just clean the windows for her and she'll let you use it as long as you'd like."

"Or until she needs it," He replied, starting to get desperate for a good excuse for her to leave the computer.

"You say tomato. I say tomado." She answered with a shrug turning back to the stairs, the laptop still under one arm, her bag under the other. "See you on Sunday." She added over her shoulder.

"You're evil, squid. Pure evil," Eric muttered.

"And you're a brat. So deal," She replied, before disappearing down the stairs. "I'm ready Dad," She announced.

Jack stopped mid sentence, looking almost thankful for a moment to see his only daughter re-enter the room with her bag. "We'll continue this later," He told the other man with a short nod immediately heading for the exit.

Robert gave Sydney a small smile and a feeble wave which she returned grimly before turning around. Visits with her father were never pleasant and even if this was only for two nights and one day, she was not looking forward to this.

"How's school?" Jack asked, once they were speeding off down the street.

Sydney rolled her eyes slightly, buckling her seatbelt and slouching in the passenger seat. Here they go again. The usual questions with the usual answers. She wasn't entirely sure why they did this anymore really. "It's fine."

"How are Nakia and Frances?"

It took Sydney a moment to decipher who the hell he was talking about. She didn't know any Nakias or Franceses. "_Nadia_ and _Francie,_" She started, over stressing her friends' names. You'd think he'd remember their names by now. She'd only been friends with them since first grade and talked about them during every visit. "…are fine."

If her father noticed her stressing of her friends' names, he didn't show it. "Getting all of your homework done?"

"Of course."

"Did Nana write you?"

She had to pause for a moment and rack her memory to see if she had gotten a letter from her dad's mother. "Yes." She answered finally.

"Did you write her back?"

What was she? Four? She knew to send a letter back to her Nana when she got one. "Of course Dad."

"I hope you didn't eat. Rebecca's making her specialty tonight." He commented.

She frowned and looked at him, her eyes flashing with questions. She did not know a Rebecca. She knew a Natalie worked for her dad as his housekeeper and she used to know a Rosa… but the name Rebecca did not ring any bells.

"Who's Rebecca?" She asked finally.

"My new housekeeper."

Oh. Well then. "What happened to Natalie?"

"She quit."

"Uh… why?" Yeah, her dad could be a bit hard to work for, that she could understand but he paid good money for having to put up with his antics.

"She's getting married," He explained.

Ah. Well. Thanks for the invite Natalie. And here she thought that the woman had liked her. Guess she was wrong about that. "When did she quit?"

"Two weeks ago."

That settled it. The woman didn't like her as much as she'd thought. Then again… she'd only really talked to Natalie like four times and that didn't really warrant an invite to the wedding but still. Your employer's daughter. "Hm" was her only response.

"She left an invitation for you at the house," Jack added.

Oh sure. Now he tells her that. It must have been too hard to tell her up front. Because, he had to let her worry and seethe a little. "Oh. Okay."

"Are you going to go?"

She shrugged. "I might. It depends."

"You should call her as soon as you can and tell her."

Again, what was she? Four? She knew this. "I know, Dad." She replied, gritting her teeth.

"There's no need for the tone, Sydney Anne." Jack replied.

If she wasn't around her father, she would have growled in frustration. This was why she hated going to her dad's. He always treated her like a child and got angry with her when she protested. "Don't treat me like I'm four, and you'll never have to hear the tone again." She answered.

"I do not treat you like you're four."

And now he was denying it. "Mmmhmmm…" She mumbled. "Sure you don't."

"You're acting like you're four," He pointed out.

"I am not!" She protested loudly, her tone portraying the anger she felt.

Her father was silent for a moment. "You will not speak to me like that, Sydney Anne Bristow."

"I'll speak to you as I like thanks," She replied a little more bitter now. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized that she should just shut up and go with whatever her father wanted for the rest of the weekend. It would be over soon enough.

"Did Irina teach you to talk like that? Or was it Robert?"

Something told her that that comment had very little to do with her and a whole lot to do with her mother and her stepfather for whatever odd reason. "I learned it from Francie, actually." She answered. That probably wasn't her brightest idea to rat out her friend for teaching her to be blunt (and a little disrespectful) but it wasn't like her dad was going to meet Francie? Was it?

"If I had my way, you wouldn't be friends with girls like 'Francie'," Jack answered pulling the car into his driveway.

Sydney was mildly surprised that the twenty minute drive from her mom's house had passed without her noticing much or wishing that her father had chosen to live closer. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she looked over at her father with a disdainful look. "If you had your way," She started, her hand reaching for the door handle. "I'd be living in a boarding school rather than with Mom." She finished the statement by throwing the door open, jumping out, and slamming the car door after her before she stalked off to the house.

**-break-**

"Come on…" Vaughn muttered under his breath, staring at the computer screen with an evil glare. This was definitely the last time he listened to anything his best friend said. He'd be on and they could talk at sixty thirty his ass. And here he was under the impression that his best friend understood that Maman had crazy whims like what she did to him today. "That is the last time I ever believe you…"

"Talking to yourself?"

Okay. That made him forget about any plans to want to kill Eric because he'd lied to him. Made him forget about his Maman's whims too. It wasn't that he'd gotten caught talking to himself. He did it all the time and it failed to be an embarrassment to him anymore. It was that Jonathon had caught him. Just great.

"Yes." Vaughn answered turning his head to look at his future stepfather. Well, it wasn't official but unless his maman either got into a huge fight with the man (not likely) or died (again, not likely), then they were getting married. "I was."

Jonathon raised an eyebrow at him, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. "At least you're honest."

"I find that it comes in handy every once in a while," Vaughn answered hiding his sarcasm well.

Jonathon either didn't get the joke or completely missed the sarcasm for he nodded slowly, his eyes drawn to the computer screen. "Waiting for someone?"

How did he…? No, he wasn't sure he wanted to know how Jonathon knew anything about instant messengers. He nodded slowly. "Mmmhmm."

"Girlfriend?" Jonathon asked.

Vaughn froze for a moment. Okay, it was weird enough for his future stepfather to come catch him talking to himself but now he was sticking around for a man to man talk? This was going to be interesting. Why wasn't he downstairs with Maman? That was a good question. He should ask that. Nah. "I don't have a girlfriend," He answered.

"You don't?" Jonathon asked surprised causing Vaughn to shake his head. "I could've sworn that Amelie said that you had a girlfriend."

The last time he had a girlfriend was before his maman started dating Jonathon. Now he was being lied to. Perfect. He shrugged. "Maybe you heard wrong?"

"That's probably it," Jonathon answered. Yeah, he definitely had the look of a man caught lying by someone he was trying to bond with. Oh shit, that's what he was trying to do. He was trying to bond with him. Well, eff that. If he could help it, he would go through life not getting to know this man. "Any prospects?"

Um, yes. And her name stared with the letters 's' and 'b'. But if he hadn't even told his best friend or the girl that he liked that he liked her, he wasn't about ready to tell Jonathon. God, he'd rather go up to Jack Bristow and tell him that he liked his daughter than tell Jonathon. Alright, maybe he was being a little childish and immature, but come _on_. Didn't he get a say in stepparents?

Apparently not.

Being the child sucked sometimes.

Vaughn shrugged again. "I'm not sure." He answered.

Jonathon was silent for a moment. Okay, two moments. At the very least. And in that time, Vaughn was convinced that his future father was either trying to figure out his next move or deciding if just buying off his girlfriend's son would be a good idea or not. Personally, he would have preferred the buying off. He got money out of the deal.

"You really don't like me do you?"

_That_ was unexpected. Really unexpected. He didn't think that he was that transparent with his thoughts about the man. Maybe he was that transparent with his feelings. About everyone. Which, if that were true, Sydney would think that something was up with him (good or bad) and that might bust his secret and…

Okay. _Chill_. Stop. Whatever.

_Deep breaths… in and out… slowly_.

'Sydney doesn't know anything. Jonathon was just picking up on the fact that you didn't want to talk to him and was finally getting the hint.' The voice whispered.

_Ah well… that makes sense. I have paranoia problems_.

'No comment.'

Right then. "What makes you think that?" Vaughn asked carefully.

Jonathon scoffed. "Do you really think me that stupid, Michael?"

Don't say 'yes'. Don't say 'well… you are dating Maman' either. "I wouldn't know," Vaughn answered after thinking about it. "I've never had the chance to get to know you."

"And whose fault is that?"

Don't say 'yours'. Saying 'I wouldn't have the slightest clue' is bad as well. "Mine. I guess."

"And why is that?"

What's with the third degree over here? Can't a guy just not like another guy and therefore not want to get to know the latter without the twenty questions thing? "Wouldn't be able to tell you."

"I think I know," Jonathon replied his eyes on Vaughn.

Vaughn met his gaze defiantly. "Enlighten me."

"You think I'm trying to replace your father."

What. The. Hell?

Where in the name of all that is holy in this world did that come from? Nevermind that once the idea had been proposed, all of his behavior towards the man suddenly made sense. And forget that Jonathon was really good at analyzing him. The man had no right to tell him that. None. What he thought about his father and future stepfather was his own business.

"I'm not trying to," Jonathon added. "No one can replace your father."

How much did this seem like an overly used movie script? People actually had this conversation in real life? That… was really good to know. "I cannot believe you just said that," Vaughn muttered.

Jonathon laughed softly. "I can't really believe I said it either to be honest." He answered. "I need to stop watching family movies."

Vaughn nodded solemnly. "I would have to agree with you."

Wait. Stop. Freeze. Rewind.

Did they just have a sort of male bonding, shared embarrassment moment? If so, why didn't he stop it? Why didn't he realize what was going and throw Jonathon out of the room? Damnit. Now he'd had a moment and moments led to bonding and bonding led to friendship and then all of his plans of hate were flushed down the toilet.

"Is dinner almost ready?" Vaughn asked, changing the subject. The faster they got away from the male bonding one, the better.

"That's actually why I was sent up here." Jonathon replied. "Amelie said twenty minutes. About… four and a half minutes ago."

Vaughn nodded slowly, resisting the urge to smile and laugh. The male bonding moment had been a four minute thing. That was it. Four minutes and his elaborate plans were thrown out of the window. Just peachy.

"I'm going to take a shower," He announced. "I'll be down after that."

"Alright," Jonathon agreed, moving from his spot by the computer desk towards the door. "I'll see you at dinner then."

"Okay." Vaughn murmured turning his gaze back to the computer screen. Well, Sydney had just signed on. And if he knew the Bristow/Weiss family, that meant she was on the laptop and that Eric wouldn't be getting it any time soon. Right. Maybe he'd check back later.

After turning off the computer, he stretched his arms above his head, yawning softly. Okay, Sydney had not helped him any by signing onto MSN. Now he was thinking about her. A lot. Mostly about her eyes… and her smile… and her wit… okay, he was lying. He was thinking about everything about her. Every _single_ thing. Especially her chest.

It was amazing really. How he could go from having an uncomfortable bonding moment with his future stepfather and then go straight to thinking about Sydney. Though, at the moment, he wasn't sure if it was a good thing to be thinking about Sydney.

Definitely going to need a cold shower. That's for sure.

* * *

**SSB's note**: See? Even more things happening in this chapter. And look! Jack speaks in this one! Oh about about Nadia's crush/Eric's maybe/maybe not girlfriend... all good things come with time.

Review responses are on my livejournal.

Next chapter: Just one little date.


	6. One Little Cancelled Date

"_Vaughn, I'm really sorry. I can't come. It's just… uh, my dad's being a bastard. And… I don't know, don't be mad. Please. I just… can't come. How about next weekend? Um… just call me and let me know. No guarantees that I'll answer, but whatever. Sorry again. Um, bye."_

Vaughn frowned, lowering the phone from his ear. That could not have been Sydney. Dear God, tell him that hadn't been Sydney. Setting his jaw, he ended the call and then called his voicemail again intent on listening to the message again.

It didn't change. Not one word.

She had really cancelled on him.

Was it normal to feel so disappointed and abandoned? Yes, he supposed it was. Especially when the girl you like does it.

He couldn't believe that she'd canceled on him. This wasn't just a friendly get together at the mall. This was school related. No, this was school _based_ and she had canceled on him. Sydney would never cancel school work related plans. Not unless something was really wrong.

Which made him wonder, was there?

He knew her well enough to know that if it had been an emergency, something including the hospital, or Eric in any way, then she would have told him. But she never mentioned that. Just that 'her dad was being a bastard'. So, in Sydney speak, what did that mean? It could mean a lot of things to be honest.

Vaughn tapped his finger on the table he sat at absentmindedly, trying to decide what to do for the rest of the afternoon. Spending the afternoon at the mall unless he either had something to buy –which he didn't- or someone to be with did not sound like very much fun. But then again, it was better than going back home and being bored there.

This was certainly a pickle of a situation.

Exhaling slowly, he stood up, grabbing his soda with his right hand and gazing around the food court. Kid screaming in the corner about the lack of a toy in his food. A group of chatting girls, laughing over something. A couple of soccer moms were talking over a much deserved break from their kids and husbands. The entire food court was alive with activity, except for maybe him. He was still trying to figure out what was going on with Sydney.

"Vaughn?"

He knew that voice. "Francie?" He asked, turning towards the source of the voice and sure enough, there was Francie, and surprisingly, Nadia. Both girls smiled at him; Nadia waved a little. "What are you two doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Francie replied, adjusting her purchase bags. "You hate the mall."

"I don't hate it," Vaughn defended.

Francie raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

Vaughn sighed. "Alright, yes, I hate it here."

"Then why are you here?" Nadia asked curiously.

Vaughn hesitated. How would it sound to tell her two best friends that she'd ditched him at the food court because her dad was 'being a bastard'? Probably not very good. "You know," He shrugged.

"No, I really don't," Francie replied bluntly.

Vaughn sighed again, giving her a look. "I felt like coming here for some reason," He lied.

"Couldn't have something to do with that photo project you and Sydney are supposed to do together could it?" Nadia asked slyly.

Vaughn looked at her sharply. Did she have to sound so… happy about that? It wasn't funny. Maybe to her it was, but it wasn't to him. Not even a little. "You know about that?"

"Well, we did ask her to go shopping with us today," Francie answered before Nadia could. "She said that she was going to be with you today, doing photo stuff." She shrugged a little.

"And you've got your camera," Nadia pointed out. "That kind of gave it away."

Vaughn glanced at the camera bag that he had slung over his shoulder. He had completely forgotten about that. "Oh, so I do. Imagine that."

"So is Syd coming?" Francie asked, excited at the prospect at having her best shopping buddy there. Nadia was great and all, but she couldn't stop Francie from spending all of her money she didn't need and didn't even like that much to begin with and only wanted because it was on sale.

Vaughn hesitated before shaking his head. "Nope."

"Why not?" the two girls chorused.

He shrugged. "She didn't really give an answer."

"You talked to her?" Francie asked earnestly.

"No," Vaughn shook his head. "She left me a message."

"Because you didn't feel like answering your phone?" Francie asked, staring at him.

"Or it was on silent and I didn't feel it," He replied in the same tone.

Francie glowered at him. "Then what the hell good are you?"

"What she means is, that she hasn't talked to any of us all weekend," Nadia interrupted quickly. "And I think Francie wanted to know if she said anything to you as to why that would be."

Vaughn considered it for a moment. He was pretty sure that Sydney wouldn't mind if he gave her friends the same reason she had given him, but then again, she hadn't called them for a reason. Might as well leave them in suspense and let her explain it. "Just that she couldn't make it."

"Hm," Nadia frowned, considering that.

"She's at her dad's this weekend, right?" Francie asked.

Nadia nodded after a moment's pause.

"That might be it," Francie continued. "They do have a tendency of getting into fights when she's over there."

How did he never know this? He thought he knew everything about Sydney's relationship with her dad. He knew that they didn't get along, but he had no idea that they fought every time she went over there. Why did her mom still let her go if that happened? What kind of parenting was that?

"Or maybe he's just refusing to give her a ride," Nadia pointed out, oblivious to Vaughn's thoughts. "It's happened before, and she's only got her permit."

"True," Francie nodded before shrugging. "We'll see her tomorrow at least."

That was it? Vaughn stared at her. Her friend most likely got into a fight with her father, who was not known for being the world's most nice person, and that was all she had to say about it? We'll see her tomorrow? If that were his friend, he'd be calling, or at the very most, going over there. Women.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Francie asked, giving him a strange look.

"Like what?" Vaughn asked.

"Kind of like you want to smack me."

Well, the girl wasn't ever known for being subtle. "I don't want to smack you."

"But you were thinking about it," She pointed out with a smirk. "Don't worry about it," She added. "Happens all the time."

"Somehow I don't find that hard to believe," Vaughn replied sarcastically.

Francie gave him a look. "Oh aren't you just the funny man," She rolled her eyes.

Nadia laughed softly. "Do you want to go shopping with us, Vaughn?" She asked.

"Oh yes, please do," Francie said. "I always wanted a caddy boy to carry my bags."

"…I think I'll pass," Vaughn said with a nod. "I've probably got chores to do anyway."

"Oh no you don't," Francie said when Nadia gasped. "No chores for you until I'm shopped out."

"But Francie," Nadia replied. "I'm going to be grounded."

"Your mom said until five," Francie pointed out.

"It's four forty five," Vaughn commented, looking at the clock on his phone.

Nadia gasped again. "We've seriously got to go," She said, grabbing Francie's arm and pulling her towards the exit.

"It's a half mile to your house!" Francie protested, trying her hardest not to be dragged along.

The last thing he heard from the pair of girls was "you'll live!" from Nadia. He laughed, rolling his eyes at the two girls. He stared at his phone for a couple seconds before dialing home. "Maman? Can you come pick me up?"

Sydney glared at her pencil when the tip broke again. She might have been pressing a littler harder than normal but that didn't give it any right to break. Especially since this was like the third time in the past five minutes when she had to get up and resharpen her pencil. She exhaled slowly, considering for a moment just doing her math homework in pen and not caring if she got docked points. Pen tips didn't break, unless you pressed really hard on them.

She tapped the eraser end of the pencil on her notebook, considering. No, it really wasn't worth it to be docked twenty percent just because she was lazy. She grabbed her pencil, stopped to pause her CD, and then jumped off her barstool.

Rather than risk running into her dad in his study, she elected to climb the stairs and use the one in her room. It might take more of her energy, but it would definitely save her another headache. This weekend had been crappier than it usually was. Ever since that fight in the car, they hadn't said much to each other, and when they did, there was obvious anger and resentment behind the words.

She hadn't really meant what she said. She'd been in a mood, and then with her dad giving her the third degree, she got a little snappy. And she had tried to apologize, but her dad didn't seem to let her talk long enough to get the actual apology out. Well, that was just fine and dandy with her anyway. She'd be back at her mom's tomorrow anyway and life could go on.

Sydney made a frustrated noise when the phone started to ring. Someone up above really did not want her to finish her math homework. After backtracking her steps to go get the phone, she picked it up. "Hello?"

"Sydney? Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to finally talk to you," came the reply.

This only confused her more. "Um, alright… what's up?"

"Well, I'm sure your father told you about the wedding," Natalie started.

"He did," the teenager agreed.

"And I hate to badger you, but are you coming?"

Truthfully, she hadn't put anymore thought into the wedding since her dad mentioned it on Friday. She hadn't even looked at the invitation. "When is it again?"

She could almost hear Natalie's frustration. "The twelve of December," She replied softly.

Sydney paused, trying to think if she had anything going on in two months. If she did, then she couldn't remember and thus, it couldn't be that important. "Can I bring someone?"

"One guest, I suppose," Natalie sighed. "That means you'll be there?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Sydney promised.

"Good," Natalie admonished. "Oh, and try not to wear anything white." She added.

The teenager laughed. "I'll try my best."

Natalie laughed with her. "I'll call you later. Maybe we could have lunch or something."

"Alright," Sydney agreed. "Talk to you later."

"Bye."

"Bye."

After replacing the phone on the hook, Sydney continued onwards to her room. She got about halfway across her room before she heard her dad yelling for her. She was right. Someone really did not want her to finish her math homework. Tossing the pencil to the table, she turned on her heel and went back down the stairs, two at a time.

"Yes, Dad?" She droned.

"What do you want for dinner?" Jack asked her, staring at the freezer.

It wasn't that she expected her dad to cook something from scratch. It was that he sounded annoyed with the fact that he had a daughter to feed that irked her. "I'm not hungry."

"Nonsense," He responded. "It's almost seven. You're hungry."

And now he was telling her when to eat. She was fifteen for goodness's sake. "I'll find something when I finish with my math homework."

"It's Sunday night."

"So…?" She raised a confused eyebrow.

"You should've done it by now."

Oh hell. "I was busy," She said patiently.

"With what?"

"My other homework."

Jack closed the freezer door and turned towards her. "Alright. Eat when you want," He said, moving past her to go back to his study.

Sydney turned and stared at his back. And to think, she had been bracing herself for an argument. Well, she wasn't going to question it. No argument and confusion was better than any arguing. Deciding to procrastinate a little more, she walked over to the counter, and opened the bread box.

When she'd finished making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and had put everything away, she leaned against the counter and surveyed the kitchen. Even though she had been coming to this house for the past fourteen years of her life, she hadn't ever taken the time to study the room. Well, anything to delay her homework a bit more.

It wasn't a fancy room. There was definitely not something you would find in the home of someone really rich or famous or both but it was expensive enough. The microwave was fairly new, along with the refrigerator. Her eyes stopped on the doors of the fridge, narrowing slightly.

Pushing off the counter with her back, she walked over to the fridge, bending close to study the things stuck onto the doors with little magnets. They were pictures. Pictures of things she wouldn't expect to see on a fridge of her dad's. Her sixth birthday, her first soccer team, the time she broke her leg when he was ten, her and her dad when she was a baby, even a picture of her, Francie, Nadia, Eric, and Vaughn at her last birthday. He hadn't been there, which would mean that her mom had given him that picture. Or he had asked for it.

She wasn't entirely sure on how to react to this new revelation. How she had never noticed the pictures was beyond her really. They were plain as day but she never saw them before. She took another bite, chewing thoughtfully.

She'd just have to be a little nicer to her dad now.

"Dude, how many times am I going to have to repeat myself now?"

"What?" Vaughn asked stupidly.

Eric made a frustrated noise, throwing the nerf ball he had been fiddling with at his wall. "Are you listening to me?"

"Of course I am," Vaughn retorted.

"Then what did I just say?"

"Are you listening to me?" Vaughn responded smartly.

"Oh ha ha," Eric rolled his eyes. "What have I been talking about for the past ten minutes?"

"That I haven't been listening?"

"Nice try, but no."

"Then enlighten me."

"I don't think I will."

Vaughn sighed. "Why the hell not?"

"Because you should know already," Eric pointed out.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I wasn't listening. I'm a bit distracted." Vaughn replied.

"By what?" asked Eric.

"Nothing that concerns you."

"You tell me what's bothering you, and I'll tell you what I was talking about."

After a moment's consideration, Vaughn consented. "What do you know about Sydney's relationship with her dad?" He asked, turning his cell phone –which was currently out of battery power forcing him to use the house phone- over in his hand.

"Random much?"

"She was supposed to meet me yesterday for a project but she never showed. Left me a message that said her dad was being a bastard. Thought you could explain it a little."

"Hmmmm… I don't really know much…" Eric admitted. "All I know is they don't get along very well. I don't know why. So don't ask."

"Wasn't going to," Vaughn muttered. "Alright, your turn."

"My turn?"

"What were you saying?"

"You're still on that?"

Instead of protesting, Vaughn simply said "Yes."

"Dude, you need to learn to let things go."

"Just tell me already."

"Alright already, take a chill pill." Eric muttered. "I was saying that I think it's about time to put Eric back on the market. I need a girlfriend."

Vaughn was silent for a moment. "I gave up my concern over Sydney's problems with her dad for that?"

"Hey, that's important stuff."

Vaughn snorted. "Sure it is."

"Well, you wanted to know, so there." Eric paused. "Why would your concern with Syd be a big thing anyway?"

Vaughn silently berated himself for ever saying that. "It's not. I was just commenting on how crappy your conversation was. No wonder I tuned out."

"You're a funny one tonight, got anything else you need to get out?"

"No I think I'm good."

"Good, because I'm about to hang up on you."

"Thanks for the warning then."

"See you tomorrow."

"Bye."

Neither Jack nor Sydney said anything during the drive over to her school. Normally, this was her least favorite part of the weekend, even though she was going home. It was hard to explain. She would wish that the weekend had gone better, and that she hadn't said some of the stuff that she did say to her dad, but then resign to the fact that it wasn't going to change.

This morning however, she didn't hate it as much as she normally did.

As usual, her dad didn't say anything besides 'be in the car by seven' that morning. He didn't have to say it, but she could always tell that on Monday mornings, he disliked having to detour to her school. It hadn't bothered her before, but what kind of man kept pictures of her on his fridge but hated giving her a ride to school?

Her dad was far too complex.

Sydney hesitated before getting out of the car when he pulled over at the curb. "Dad?"

"Yes Sydney?"

She licked her lips. "I love you," She said softly, closing the door behind her before he could answer. And she didn't want to see the expression on his face. It'd probably make her cry no matter what it was, and getting questions about crying wasn't something she wanted all that much.

She managed to get to her locker before Francie and Nadia swooped down on her. "How was it?"

"Did you fight the entire time?"

"Why didn't you call us?"

"Come on, speak to us!"

Sydney laughed, brushing Francie's hand off her shoulder. "It was fine," She replied, opening her locker.

Francie and Nadia stared at her. "I don't believe you," The former said finally.

"It's never fine," The latter added.

"Well, it was this time," Sydney answered, pulling out her chemistry book. "I'll tell you all about it at lunch."

"No you won't," Francie argued.

Sydney smirked. "Alright, then I won't," She said. "See you next period," She added, dodging into the mass of kids in the hallways.

"She's too good at that…" Nadia muttered.

"Mhm," Francie agreed. "C'mon. Bell's gonna ring."

Sydney managed to slip into her seat just as the bell rung. Thank God too, because she was pretty sure that being late again would get her kicked out. She sighed, getting out her finished yet horribly done worksheet, passing it down the row with the other papers. As revealing as this weekend was, she was still really glad to be able to go home after school.

* * *

**SSB's note:** Well, it's been a long time since I've updated. If you've read my livjournal, then you'll know why. If not, why not head over there and have a read? -hinthint-

Anyway, I'll try to update more and I know this was a pretty uneventful chapter.

Review responses are on the livejournal. It's on my author's page under 'homepage.'


End file.
